Process of separating metals from their combinations.



No." s|,|8'8. Patented Nov. s, |900.

A. NETTL.

PROCESS 0F SEPARATIN'G METALS FROAM THEIR CUMBINATIUNS.

(Application Bled Dac. 29, 1897.)

2 sheets-slim (No Model.)

No. s6|,|a. -Patenfed mw. s, |900. i

A. METTI..

PRUCESS 0F SEPARATING METAL-S FROM THEIR GOMBINTIUNS.

(Application led Dec. 29, 1897.) (Ndllodel.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED 4` STATES PATENT Orme.

ANTON4 NETTL, OF PRAGUE, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.-

PROCESS OF SEPARATING METALS FROM THEIR COMBINATIONS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of` Letters Patent No. 661,188, dated November6, 1900.

I Application led December 29, 1897. Serial No. 664.245. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that l, ANTON NETTL, a subject of the Emperor ofAustria-Hungary, residing at 28 Mariengasse, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, have invented a certain new and useful Process of SeparatingMeta-ls from 'lheir Combinations, of which the followingis a full andclear specification.

This'inveution has been patented in England under date of JnlyrS, 1896,No. 15,129.

The subject of the'present invention is a process which can be generallyemployed for the electrolytic decomposition of conducting bodies whichare separable by an electric current. Y

Several forms of the apparatus for carrying out the improved process areillustrated in the accompanying drawings, which show the disposition ofthe main feature'of the invention-namely, the mercury electrode fallingquite freely without any substratumwhich can be employed in a variety ofways.

Similar letters and figures of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a plan with the cover removed. Fig. 2 isa longitudinal vertical section ot' the same. Fig. 3 is a transversesection. Figs. 4 and 4 are details of the glass tubes. Figs. 5 and 6 arerespectively a transverse and a part longitudinal section of amodification. Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are part transverse sectional viewsof fur= ther modifications. Fig. 1l is a modified form of tube. Figs. 12and 12a are details illustrating a modification of outlet Siphon-pipes.Fig. 13 is a transverse sectional view of a further modification, andFig. 14'is a detail showing a manner of supplying quicksilver.

The apparatus shown in Figs. v1, 2, and 3 n plan, with the coverremoved, and two sectional elevations, respectively, consists of a lvessel K, ot' suitable material, as porcelain,

stoneware, cement, or wood. On its upper:

edge it is provided with a channelC, which is filled with water for` thepurpose of efecting a tight closing of the vessel. rFhe bottom is shapedas shown in'Fig. 3-that is to say,

The cover D is also provided with openings N, which are arrangeddirectly above the groove R between two of the Siphon-pipes. In theseopenings are fitted glass or porcelain tubes G, which consist, as may beseen from Fig. 4, of a short vertical tube 1, to which is connected ahorizontal tube 2, provided with a number of small tubes g, with fineend openings. Y rPhe tubes Gare arranged insuch a way that thehorizontal tubes are parallel with the groove R. The vessel is providedwith an opening W to carry off the evolved gases. Supposiner theapparatus to be used for decomposing common salt, the positiveelectrodes, which consist of charcoal or any other material suitable forthe purpose, are placed on the banks B, and then the vessel is filledwith the electrolyte. To prevent the latter from escaping through the siphon-pipes H, these are filled previously with quicksilver. The negativeelectrode consists of quicksilver,which is introd uced into the tubes G,from Where it flows or falls down through the openings g in verticaljets through the electrolyte to the groove R, thus forming a continuousnegative electrode, which when the circuit is closed willtake off thesodium, While the chlorin gas escapes through the opening W. Thequicksilver accumulates iu the groove R and fiows through theSiphonpipes H into suitable vessels, where by means of water or steamthe sodium is given off again in the form of caustic soda. Thequicksilver is then raised by a pump or any other lifting apparatus toenter again the supplytube. The quicksilver found at the bottom of thecell, which cannot flow off quickly enough,is suitably protected fromthe influence of the electrolyte by a cover of a relatively heavyluid--that is, any fluid such chloroform or sulfid of carbonwhich beingheavier than the electrolyte, consisting in the case above given ofconcentrated chlorid of sodium, will resist the action of chlorin andcaustic soda or of sodium amalgam.

In Figsf to 10 are shown several modifications of the apparatusrespecting to the cover of the vessel and the supply of quicksilverthereto. The cover D (shown in Figs. 5 and 6) is provided with a channelM, the bottom of which is formed by a list V, of wood, cork, ebonite, orany other suitable material, provided with openings, into which arefitted roo' either the tubes G (shown in Fig. It) or small tubes g, asshown in Figs. 5 and 6. The channel is continually supplied withquicksilver and may be closed by a cover d. InFigs. 7 to 10 arerepresented other forms of the channel, the Quicksilver being suppliedby the opening Q. In Fig. 7 the glass tube gis fused into a glassstopper, and the latter is linderstood ground or fitted into the earthencover or lid. The admission of the jets into the apparatus takes placethen through many such stoppers. Instead of the openings in the listfitted with tubesasingle tube G, Fig. 1l, may be used, which is providedwith a number of short additional pipes g.

A modification of the under Siphon-pipes is shown in Fig. 12, where theflowing off of the quicksilver is performed bya vertical tube E, passingthrough the bottom of the vessel and provided on its upper end with a bell S and several openings O under the latter, thus preventing anyflowing out of the electrolyte through this pipe. Instead of the bellthere can also be employed a small curved pipe e, fitted in the upperend of the tube E.

Fig. 13 shows an apparatus where the quicksilver enters the vessel frombeneath through the inlet g and passes through the electrolyte in a jetT ot' parabolic form. The receiver Q is supplied from a reservoir placedsomewhat above the level of the vessel K. The positive electrodes A arepreferably arranged in such away that one of them is placed beneath andthe other above the Quicksilver jet. The form of the Quicksilver jetscan be of dierent kinds, according to the shape of the inletopenings.

`It will be understood that, if desired, several cells of the kindbefore described could be arranged adjacent to and parallel with eachother and supplied with mercury by common supply-pipes F,as indicateddiagrammatically in Fig. 14.

It is understood as a matter of course that the arrangements describedwill be multiplied within one cell in apparatus intended for practicalservices, so that in one common cell a larger number of anodes andseries of mercury-jets will be arranged beside each other or one abovethe other. In executions according to Fig. 1 the cover might havemercury-feed tubes in common, made also of one piece with 'the cover.

What l claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The herein-described process of electrodecomposition which consists incausing amercury electrode to continually fall freely by gravity in aplurality of finely-divided streams through the body of the electrolyte,and passing an electric current to the mercury as cathode through anelectrolyte containing a metal capable of combining with such mercurycathode. t

Signed at Prague, Austria-Hungary, this 13th day of December, 1897.

ANTON NETTL.

Witnesses:

ADoLPH FISCHER, HUGO DONZELMANN.

